The Pirate Bay: We will sue copycat site for copyright infringement

TPB spokesperson, apparently with no irony: “We are outraged by this behavior."

A Finnish anti-piracy group has copied—down to the CSS file—the design and layout of The Pirate Bay’s classic pirate ship-themed design. In a statement to TorrentFreak, The Pirate Bay was nonplussed.

“We are outraged by this behavior,” an anonymous Pirate Bay spokesman told TorrentFreak. “People must understand what is right and wrong. Stealing material like this on the Internet is a threat to economies worldwide. We feel that we must make a statement and therefore we will sue them for copyright infringement.”

The Pirate Bay has shown no evidence on its site or its Twitter feed that it has filed suit, either in Finland or Sweden. The group did not respond to requests for comment via Twitter or e-mail.

The new site, called “Piraattilahti” (“Pirate Bay” in Finnish), clearly pokes fun at the Sweden-based original. It is run by the Copyright Information and Anti-Piracy Centre (CIAPC) in Helsinki. The CIPAC told Finnish media (Google Translate) that its main page (antipiracy.fi) was under some sort of denial of service attack on Thursday. The site appears to be loading normally as of publication, however.

Despite its appearance, the Finnish clone is obviously not a BitTorrent site at all. Each link on the home page points here, with this message:

You got lucky!
Movies, TV shows, music, games and books ...
... Are all just a few clicks away! And totally legal!
Did you know that there are currently a number of activities of legal culture and entertainment web services? For example, [our music service] can be heard through the nearly 30 million [files]! Our services are safe, easy to use and some even free of charge to the consumer.
Follow the links below [to see] lists covering culture and entertainment from legitimate online services.

The links below include DWNLD.fi (Google Translate), a government and Finnish arts industry-approved site, and Pro Music, a site run by “a coalition of people and organisations working across the music sector,” including the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI).

If CIAPC's game here is, "nyah nyah, see how you like it," I have no problem with PB responding in kind.

Yes, it's just a continued escalation of the legal nightmare preventing and sensible policy to arise about intellectual property and copyright, but whatever. I don't think anyone believes there will be a sensible solution at this point.

I better hope the Pirate Bay rightsperson is joking. If he isn't, there are two possible outcomes:

1; They lose, and this would prove copyright to be bogus. Hence, if a copyright-group can just copy the design of another, then why bother with copyright at all?

2; If they try hard enough and win the case, they will be known as hypocrits and will be used as prime example of the copyright industry for enforcing copyright. As in "Hence, even pirates are pro-copyright".

I believe the risk is way too high. Even in the case of 1, I believe there are some ways out for the copyright industry that will make TPB seem bad.

In other news, popcorn prices in areas with heavy Ars readership are expected to rise due to an increased demand, while hospitals prepare for increased amount of workload due to massive influx of individuals shooting themselves in their feet.

They shouldn't be joking tbh. This shitgroup (that copied piratebay) has been trolling in Finland for too long. Now they did the same thing as they're trying to "fight" for and they should be sued to oblivion.

You know what was the OFFICIAL comment in our local newspapers by head of this antipiracy group?

"I don't know technology that well that I could comment. Piratebay should still be blocked".

The organization in question, TTVK, is pretty universally reviled here. They were responsible for confiscating the laptop of a 9-year old girl because she had downloaded few songs from an album she was planning to buy. I hope they rot in hell. All of them.

And since TTVK managed to force ISPs in to blocking the Pirate Bay, how did they manage to go there in order to yank their stylesheet? Did they somehow circumvent the block they set up in the first place?

The organization in question, TTVK, is pretty universally reviled here. They were responsible for confiscating the laptop of a 9-year old girl because she had downloaded few songs from an album she was planning to buy. I hope they rot in hell. All of them.

And since TTVK managed to force ISPs in to blocking the Pirate Bay, how did they manage to go there in order to yank their stylesheet? Did they somehow circumvent the block they set up in the first place?

Got to admit, would be funny if TPB managed to get TTVK's servers blocked for willfull copyright infringement

And I'd personally laugh my ass off if they would actually sue. If those who think it's justice when you confiscate a laptop from child because of some music tracks get held to their own standards I can only approve of that.I don't see an example of hypocrisy here, but one of forcing some organization to experience the conclusion of their own proposed ethics.

"People must understand what is right and wrong. Stealing material like this on the Internet is a threat to economies worldwide. We feel that we must make a statement "

I can't believe they said that. They are a torrent site. They nearly said the same thing the RIAA and the MPAA have been saying all along. They have just strengthened the enemies' punch line by agreeing with it. If it was ebay or something like that I would understand, but they are in trouble as it is, they are just pushing their luck if they try to go court, and that is what the authorities want anyway.

That's the point...its a joke. A satire. A giant F.U. we couldn't care less.